Today, I’d like to share a recipe with you. Not just any recipe… a cream cheese frosting recipe I have used dozens (maybe even hundreds) of times, and I love it each time!
There are two reasons I love this recipe… one is that it’s really, really easy, and the second is that it’s really delicious!
While I do also enjoy other styles of frosting, like Swiss Meringue Buttercream, Fluffy 7 Minute Frosting, or Whipped Ganache, this cream cheese frosting recipe is easier than any other. This is basically American style buttercream (which is butter, powdered sugar, milk), but with the addition of cream cheese.
The cream cheese is really the key ingredient, since it helps off-set the sweetness of the powdered sugar, and adds to the creaminess of the butter while also removing the greasy, pure butter flavor.
Another thing I really like about this recipe is that if you use these proportions, the frosting is not over powered by the cream cheese, it takes on the flavor of whatever extract or additional flavorings are added.
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup (1 stick/8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter (set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool)
8 oz. Challenge cream cheese (directly from fridge)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (always use pure vanilla extract if possible)
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
Directions:
*Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
*Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
*Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
*Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
*Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)
The recipe above will produce a delicious VANILLA flavored frosting, here are a couple of other options to try…
For a Stronger Cream Cheese Flavor: Use an additional 4 oz. (½ block) of cream cheese. This is good for any cake/cupcake recipe that is traditionally topped with Cream Cheese Frosting, like Carrot Cake, or Red Velvet Cake.
For Chocolate Frosting: (my favorite!) add ½ cup unsweetened cocoa (I use Ghirardelli brand, it’s really good). Add the cocoa powder before adding the powdered sugar, so it gets fully incorporated into the butter and cream cheese.
Strawberry, Blackberry, etc: Add 2-4 tablespoons of preserves. Depending on how chunky or seedy the preserves are, you may want to blend it in the food processor, and/or strain it through a fine strainer before adding it to the frosting. Add the preserves to the frosting mixture before adding the heavy cream. Depending on the amount of preserves you add you may need very little or no cream, especially if you want the frosting thick enough to pipe. A final option would be to add a drop of food coloring to add to the color of the preserves (for example, pink coloring for the Strawberry flavor).
* This recipe will frost about 22-24 cupcakes if you are piping a nice swirl, or even more if you just spread it on. If you’re making a cake, this will frost and fill a two layer 9″ cake.
How To Make Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter set at room temp about 10 minutes, but should still be cool
- 8 oz. cream cheese directly from fridge
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract always use pure vanilla extract if possible
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)
Instructions
- Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add cream cheese and blend until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.
- Add vanilla extract and powdered sugar and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
- Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
- Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)
Notes
Nutrition
hey glory, i just used your chocolate frosting for wedding-cuppies, and everybody loved it!!! to be honest i reduced the sugar (american receipes are often a bit to sweet for german tongues) – but nevertheless the texture was just perfect. i had some leftovers, and the next day i brought it to a brunch – the girls just ate the frosting as if it was mousse au chocolat!!! 😉
thank you so much!
Anonymous- Bottom line is cupcakes always taste the absolute best the day they are made. If I am short on time, I may bake my cupcakes the day before, and then frost them the day of an event. The cream cheese frosting will be fine (once on a cupcake) in the frige or out on the counter for a day or two. In fact it will last longer than that, but it will be a bit dry on the outside, and would not be apropriate for a party.
Happy Baking!
Hi Glory,
Once the cupcakes are frosted, how long will they survive refrigerated and non-refrigerated? Thanks!
Hello Glory, sorry to bother you, I'm from Romania, I turned in grams but I wanted to be sure that 4 cups of powdered sugar mean 440 grams, it seemed too much, and I want to make sure.
Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you sooo much for sharing, this is always a challenge for me. I think I will make a cake just because!!! LOL!!!
Thank you for sharing your cream cheese frosting recipe. I'm dying to try it using some crushed Oreos for a cookies and cream flavor!
Nicole-
You can leave the cupcakes out, either loosly covered or just open. The sugar in the frosting acts as a preservative, so the cream cheese will not go bad. If you are making these in really warm weather I sometimes put the freshly frosted cupcakes in the fridge just for a little while (15-20 minutes) for the frosting to firm up a bit. This seems to help the frosting from melting off the cupcakes later (in warm weather).
For the freshest taste, if I am baking the cupcakes the night before, I will wait to frost them until the day they will be eaten.
Enjoy!
Sounds great! Can you leave this on the counter overnight or does it have to be refrigerated? I've just never refrigerated cupcakes and curious if they can be made the night before and left out. Thanks!
i'm so trying this when i get the chance !
i adore your blog <3
Lori- Thanks for the nice comment. I usually use a Wilton 1M tip to frost my cupcakes, it's a large, open star tip. Also, make sure to not add too much liquid (cream or milk) to the frosting, or it will not hold up very well when you try to pipe it.